TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

So it’s not about the bullying in Joplin

Written by

Trench Reynolds

in

Middle-school shooting suspect claimed he wasn’t targeting anyone:

Ever since Thomas White fired a round from a MAC-90 into the ceiling of Memorial Middle School in Joplin, Missouri, his defenders have declared that it was because he was bullied, and the school wouldn’t do anything about it. Yet in recently released documents, White himself claims it was because he was failing in school and saw no other option.

The 13-year-old boy believed he was failing four out of his six classes at Memorial Middle School. He felt it had got him “into trouble at home,” and he didn’t see anyway to improve his grades.

How about studying and doing your work. Did you ever think of that? Look, I was no Valedictorian, but the only person who was responsible for my bad grades was me.

Anyway, the fact that he claims that his failure would get him into “trouble at home” makes me think that we should be looking once again at the White family and not the school.

As I’ve previously posted, Thomas White’s father is a former drug dealer who was in illegal possession of a firearm. The same firearm that Thomas White used at his school.

Also, White said that he had no target in mind except to scare the teachers.

Thomas White told them “he just wanted to scare people,” according to a statement of facts drawn up by public defender James Egan and submitted as part of a brief filed this past week with the state’s high court. When asked specifically whom he was trying to scare, he’d told them “all the teachers,” according to the brief.

According to police, White tried firing the gun at his principal, but the gun had already jammed. White even admits to trying to fire the gun.

White eventually “admitted,” during a second interrogation, that he’d tried to fire the gun more than once, although the brief claims this “admission” was elicited by his interrogators with the assistance of his own attorney at the time,

His new attorneys say that his previous defense was inadequate. It sounds like to me, he was trying to get him the best deal possible. Now the case is tied up while attorneys argue that White should not be tried as an adult.

Comments

31 responses to “So it’s not about the bullying in Joplin”

  1. BelchSpeak Avatar
    BelchSpeak

    Captain Fail using his powers of Backfire.

    Reply
  2. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    I am still seeing very little to suggest that he is an adult. Sounds like he made a bunch of very childish decisions, just with adult consequences. I really do want to hear how they got him to confess to trying to shoot his principal (on the second interegation), though I am sure you believe there is never a case of a false confession.

    Also I hate to break it to you, but there are kids out there that do study and slip through the cracks. Remember on several test he took early last year he scored around what a mentally retarded person would. Yet he was not given any sort of special education or even an IEP or 504 plan. How the hell is a kid that is borderline mentally retarded in even one area not given any sort of special attention. You probably have good ole’ NCLB to thank for that (he wasn’t going to obtain profeicentcy no matter what they did to help him so they might as well use their resources for someone who might.)

    As for the ineffective council arguement, what is the harm in calling witnesses (he did call one, not the one that would trust White with his wife and kids but one) on your clients behalf when he might stand a reasonable chance of getting juvenile status if you do. That seems like pretty ineffective council to me.

    And here is the jist of the best explanation of this I have seen so far:

    “Whisman (a psychologist) said there were some things going on in the boy’s life that help to explain his behavior. He said that a year before, the boy’s father and mother had been having marital problems, and his father had talked to him about them. The boy’s grades had been dropping, and he had asked his parents if he could be home-schooled about that time, Whisman said.

    In the weeks leading up to the shooting, the boy was feeling increased pressure to improve his grades, mostly coming from his father, who had threatened to beat him with a belt if his grades did not improve, Whisman said. He said White also was losing touch with the few friends he had, who were becoming involved with football and no longer interacting with him. He said all these things added to an increasing sense of helplessness in the boy.

    “I believe the motive was to be expelled from school,” Whisman said of the boy’s reason for taking a gun to school.

    He described the boy as having average intelligence with extremely low “processing speed.” While he was capable of planning the shooting, he probably was incapable of carrying any plan out, he said.

    He said the boy also was prone to “paranoid ideation,” meaning he often feels as if he is being watched, and that others are making fun of his physical appearance or how stupid he is. He said that paranoid tendency also may have played a role in what happened.”

    So here we have a 13 year old boy, with paranoia, a sense of desperation (for good cause), and “extremely low” processing speed (remember what I said about special education), and he is still an adult?

    Reply
  3. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    Not in the traditional sense but in the judicial sense yes. And it seems like he’s unstable and should be put away for his own safety anyway.

    Reply
  4. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    I have no problems with “putting him away” but it seems like everyone that has gotten close to him seems to think that it would be best done in as minimum security setting as possible. I mean the head of the Boys and Girls Town of Joplin trusts him right next to his family, that is as much trust that you can put in someone IMHO.

    He still has a chance to grow and turn into a normal adult, I just want him to have a chance to make that happen. An adult sentence on the record makes that damn near impossible (even if you do get out at 18).

    Though Trench I want to ask you, did you ever do anything at the ages of 12-16 that you would never do again. Everyones said he is a pretty low risk for reoffending, I want to hear you say what makes him such a high risk.

    Reply
  5. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    Yeah, I did a lot of things I regretted. The most illegal of which was underage drinking. But none of the things involved discharging a firearm inside a school.

    As for minimum security, I don’t think so for somoen who attempted to escape.

    Reply
  6. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Like I said, as much as possible. Boys and Girls Town seems like a good fit to me. They would probably have constant supervision for him, probably for years (his escape attempt was really bad and would have never worked no matter where he was) and he would get a chance to grow in an enviorment where he actually can (max security juvenile hall for a “slow” small kid… not going to be any growing in there.) Any arguements against?

    Reply
  7. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Comeon, I want to hear why you think this is a bad idea (outside of the concept of vengence.)

    Reply
  8. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    If he’s so slow put him in jail and tell him it’s Disneyworld.

    Put him in juvie until he’s 18 and if the sentence is longer than that send him to big boy prison.

    Reply
  9. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Your the type that smiles every time this country executes a mentally retarded person aren’t you?

    I am not argueing with putting him in “juvie” fisrt, but what “juvie” is an entirely different matter. I think considering he will most likely get out at 18-21 (if nothing else I can’t imagine a jury not giving him dual juristiction 12 people agreeing to give him 20 years… not going to happen) it is our best interest to make sure he has the most oppourtunity to grow as possible.

    He is slow but not in the mentally retarded sense, at least not entirely, but can you imagine how much a weak kid who can’t trade insults (because he can’t think of a good one until 20 seconds too late), is going to beat up in a traditional juvie setting? Can you imagine what that will make him like in 3 years, no matter how much counseling he gets? Maybe you don’t care, but I just hate seeing someone dying here, literally or metaphorically.

    Reply
  10. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    Your gift for hyperbole and misdirection is amazing but to answer your question I smile anytime a convicted killer is executed. If these guys were smart they wouldn’t be criminals.

    Anyway like I keep saying I don’t care if he gets beat up in juvie, he should have thought of that before he pulled the trigger.

    Reply
  11. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    “According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, there are now about a dozen people outside the United States and Somalia who were sentenced to permanent imprisonment as children: South Africa has four, Tanzania has one, and Israel has seven. In contrast, the United States has 2,270 children serving such a sentence, including 227 in California.”

    Why again do we have such a problem with juvenile crime compared to the rest of the world? Could it be because deterents don’t work on kids? Nah

    Reply
  12. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Just so you know that means we have 99.5% of all juvenile lifers.

    Reply
  13. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    We also have more freedoms than most countries. Conversely we have more people abusing those freedoms.

    Reply
  14. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    What freedoms do we have that people in places like France and England don’t have? I mean 99.5% of all lifers and you going to blame it on our freedoms. You just hate the fact that all the evidence is pointing against you and there is nothing you can do about it. 1/1000 other juvenile lifers are from other countries…

    Reply
  15. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    I guess you don’t know about all the teen crime problems that England and France are having.

    Reply
  16. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Compare it to the problems we are having we please. I have never heard you talk about a French student or an English student taking a gun to school and firing it, have you?

    Reply
  17. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    Again your gift of misdirection precedes you. You should become a stage magician. I said teen crime that they’re having, not school shootings.

    Reply
  18. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Okay then compare that. Your ability of dodging questions is also great, maybe you should become a politican.

    Reply
  19. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    I can’t. I’m too honest.

    Reply
  20. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    You are so much fun Trenchy. Though you are still dodging the question. So could you please compare the youth crime in the United States to the youth crime in France and England? And make sure it is on par with murder. I don’t want to be hearing about simple assult cases, those hardly compare with school shootings.

    Reply
  21. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Well? Can you compare them or will you just concede the point?

    Reply
  22. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    You’re so impatient. You do know I work on 9 other sites right?

    Anyway I don’t have time to link to all the stories I’ve seen about teen murders in France and especially the UK but I would say per capita it’s about even between all 3 countries.

    Reply
  23. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    3 days isn’t enough time? You really are slow. And I still need stats.

    Reply
  24. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    There’s this site called Google you can use. Go knock yourself out.

    Reply
  25. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    I did, everything I saw seemed to suggest that Americas harsh sentences didn’t reduce juvenile crime at all. I need your stats that it does.

    Reply
  26. ZappaCrappa Avatar
    ZappaCrappa

    You really are a demanding, whiney bitch aren’t you Bobby?

    Reply
  27. Trench Avatar
    Trench

    In my opinion they aren’t harsh enough to deter crime.

    Reply
  28. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Sounds like you are conceding the poing that America has more of a problem with juvenile crime so that leads to three more questions: 1) how much harsher can you get then life in prision, 2) if they aren’t harsh enough to deter crime why do countries with less harsh sentences have lower rates, and 3) how many kids do you honestly think know what sentences juveniles generally get (in other words do you really think kids watch the national news and could find this shit out)? Well hope you will clear up those things for me (and please at least answer all 3 questions, its annoying when you don’t).

    Reply
  29. Avatar
    Anonymous

    funny, in the 1990’s and 2000’s more teens have been sent to adult courts and prisons than ever before, espcially in Florida. Has it reduced youth crime? Nope, as stats have shown, it actually makes them worse upon release but feel free to keep waving aorund your hang em all approach. It doesn’t work but oh well, that has never mattered to the lock em up crowd.

    Reply
  30. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    New article over at the Globe. I was just wondering, when the prosecution and defense team up on anyone how can you say that is effective counsel. If he was on the witness stand and after the prosecution fails to get the response they wanted from him the defense asks the exact same question would you say it is effective counsel then? I have little doubt the higher court will see it that way, it is just what then. I personally think his first defender should be suspended for his actions.

    Reply
  31. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    You are just soooooo not fun lol.

    Reply

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